I had the chance to confirm my suspicion that the elderly should not vote by recently meeting with a group of very nice older folks and attempting to chat about politics.
It is perplexing to me to watch friends who have decided that their view of the world, whatever it may be, is now set in concrete and that discussing politics or current events in a polite manner will not influence or change that view so there is no point to the discussion. Stop, they seem to want to say, I don’t want to hear it. I’ve made up my mind, once and for all. Consider my mind closed for business!
One dear friend even told me, “There is no truth”. This was a quote from a lobbyist relative. Does that sound vaguely like a rationalization for a life of promoting untruths?
Even if you can demonstrate conclusively that, for example, the vast majority of folks in Canada think their health care system is better than any other country, my friends still insist millions of Canadians are heading for the border to get health care, when that is simply not so. To admit this fact interferes with an already established world view that is easier to maintain than to modify.
In other words, our views seem to become less flexible, just like our joints, as we get older. Or maybe we simply tend to become lazy thinkers as we age. “I’ve been thinking about stuff for years, I’m tired, I’m done”.
Many of these same older folks vote no on every funding request on the town ballot because it’s easier than thinking about each request. And in the spirit of sophomoric thought, along the lines of “Guns don’t kill people”, many other older folks want to starve government financially to make it smaller, as if that alone will finally straighten out the crazy world we all live in. These are the same people who scared to death of the phony debt crisis.
If exercise is the best medicine for the body, what happens when you stop exercising your mind?
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Be kind. I'm so old a snide comment might be the end of me!